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I've given church a try during the last year, but I'm giving up on it.

Q:

I've given church a try during the last year, but I'm giving up on it. The ones I've gone to aren't very friendly to outsiders, and anyway, it all seems pretty boring. You'll probably urge me to keep looking, but why should I?

A:

I’m sorry you haven’t found a church that met your expectations; churches aren’t perfect, and sometimes they fall short of what they ought to be. But not every church is like this — and you’re right: I strongly urge you to keep looking.

Have you ever asked yourself why you decided to give church “a try” in the first place? Perhaps you were looking for new friends, or something interesting to do, or a way to get involved in worthwhile projects in your community. These aren’t wrong, of course — and churches often provide excellent opportunities for them.

However, I suspect you had another reason for looking around for a church home: In your heart, you have a hunger for God. Elsewhere in your letter, you indicate you didn’t grow up in a religious home, and that God has never been important to you. But now you realize something is missing in your life — and that “something” is God.

Don’t ignore this yearning for God. Instead, realize that He loves you, and He wants to come into your life and become your friend. And this will happen as you turn to Him in faith and ask Jesus Christ to come into your life. The Bible says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6). Open your heart and life to Christ — and then ask Him to guide you to a church where you’ll not only feel comfortable, but your faith will grow stronger week by week.